Advent of Fonts 2021

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In December 2021 I tweeted a 24-day calendar of 8x8 pixel fonts.

While many were original designs that made it into my ZX Origins some were not suitable for inclusion as they were either conversions or heavily based-upon existing bitmap fonts.

Those fonts needed a home too, so they are presented here.

  1. Feud
  2. Quantra
  3. Founded
  4. Prism
  5. Extendomatic
  6. Gattars Fork
  7. Distant Tears
  8. Amiga
  9. Caprica
  10. Statement (withdrawn)
  11. Tartan Adventure
  12. Punch
  13. Capcom Fighter
  14. Vindicated
  15. Shadow of the Beast
  16. A Night in Tokyo
  17. Pristine Decay
  18. Minecraft
  19. Flamboyant
  20. Legend of Zelda
  21. Conveyance
  22. Skid Row
  23. Raptor
  24. Balrog

Day 1 — Feud

A version of @stepickford‘s font from his awesome ZX Spectrum game FEUD extended to include lowercase letters!

Also included are the original upper-case only and smaller lower-case variants. Download Feud.

Screenshot of Feud on the ZX SpectrumFeud font simulated in Tai Pan on the ZX Spectrum

Day 8 — Amiga

Amiga day! This pack contains three fonts — the original Kickstart 1 version of Topaz 8, the revised more rounded Kickstart 2 version plus the Amiga OS 3 thin system font! All look great! Download Amiga.

Screenshot of Feud on the ZX SpectrumScreenshot of Feud on the ZX SpectrumScreenshot of Feud on the ZX Spectrum

Day 11 — Tartan Adventure

A fun and quirky font converted from the challenging 1987 split-screen text adventure The Gordello Incident by Tom D Frost via Tartan Software (screenshot 1). Download Tartan Adventure.

Screenshot of The Gordello Incident on the ZX SpectrumTartan Adventure font simulated in Ronnie Goes to Hollywood on the ZX SpectrumTartan Adventure font simulated in The Keys to Maramon on the PC in DOS

Day 13 — Capcom Fighter

Capcom Fighter! A monochrome conversion of the Final Fight arcade font from Capcom (shot #3) — variants were also used in some of the Street Fighter series. The Spectrum ports used a much worse font. Download Capcom Fighter.

Capcom Fighter font simulated in Ghosts 'N Goblins on an arcade machineCapcom Fighter font simulated in Dragon Warrior on the Nintendo NESScreenshot of Final Fight on an arcade machine

Day 15 — Shadow of the Beast II

A font conversion from classic Amiga platform game Shadow of the Beast II extended with lower-case adapted from my Fatality font. I also did a Beast 2 logo font a while back. Download Shadow of the Best 2 font.

Screenshot of Shadow of the Beast II on the AmigaShadow of the Beast II font simulated in Hero Quest on the ZX SpectrumShadow of the Beast II font simulated in Hijack! on the ZX Spectrum

Day 18 — Minecraft

To a whole generation pixels can mean only one thing… Minecraft!

A decade ago working at Xbox I played with colleagues late into the night. Now my kids play it daily. Download Minecraft font.

Minecraft font simulated in Ghosts 'N Goblins on an arcade machineMinecraft font simulated in Gauntlet II on an arcade machineMinecraft font simulated in Crack City on the ZX Spectrum

Day 20 — Legend of Zelda

Perhaps you adventured as the Hero of Hyrule with a Magical Princess!

Legend of Zelda on the GB made quite the impression to me and it’s popular with kids today (my daughter loves the manga too). Download Zelda font.

Screenshot of the Legend of Zelda on a Nintendo GameboyZelda font simulated in Zak McKracken on the Commodore AmigaZelda font simulated in Football Manager 3 on the ZX Spectrum

Day 24 — Balrog

A tribute to the late @RochBalrog — The Balrog of Zenobi Software — who wrote & published many great text adventures.❤️ This font is a blend of a few different old-style fonts he used in his games. Download Balrog

Balrog font simulated in The Never Ending Story on the Commodore 64Balrog font simulated in Dragon Warrior on the Nintendo NESBalrog font simulated in Alternate Reality:The City on the Atari 8-bit